The Kenya Railways Corporation has been directed to start afresh the regularisation process for compensation of the East African Portland Cement Company land in Athi River, Machakos.
The directive was issued by NLC Chairman Gershom Otachi after the Commission learnt that there were discrepancies on the parcel of land whose compensation process had earlier started.
The land in question was compulsorily acquired by the government to construct the Athi River SGR station in Mavoko, Machakos.
Otachi said the new process would take about three months.
He issued the directive when he together with Lands PS Nixon Korir and East African Portland Cement Company officials appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Trade, Industry and Cooperatives on July 27.
Otachi said he learnt of the discrepancies while before the committee; that the land LR NO: 10424 whose compensation was being processed no longer exists after it emerged that it had been mutilated after subdivisions.
Land regularisation refers to processes and procedures involving land use planning, cadastral surveying and land registration i.e. upgrading and land legalization processes.
"Now that we know that the land where the railway line passes is LR NO: 10424/2; in communication from Kenya Railways, the acquiring entity, they were still referring to the old number LR: 10424," he said.
Much as agency acquiring entity is what provides information. So, in this case, the responsibility lies with the acquiring entity to tell you ‘This is the parcel of land we are dealing with and size’.
"This information has come to our knowledge before this committee that we are dealing with LR NO: 10424/2 that’s a different parcel of land. Now, we will engage with the acquiring entity for formal authorization,” Otachi told the legislators.
The committee is chaired by Embakasi North MP James Gakuya with his Aldai counterpart Marianne Kitany as his deputy.
Otachi said Kenya Railways had to make a formal request to acquire that particular portion of land.
“The process has lapsed and has to be started afresh. In this case, we can advise Kenya Railways that we have learnt about this new information which ideally they should be telling us. But, we will be telling them,” Otachi said.
“We advise they jump-start the process through a notice of intention to acquire LR NO: 10424/2. The process should take about 90 days.”
Gakuya said the Ministry and NLC were invited before the committee to clarify various issues including the said land’s compensation.
There is, however, a pending court case over the parcel’s ownership. One of the reasons why the compensation stalled after EAPCC received Sh610.9 million as partial payment for LR NO: 10424.
The land approximated to be 43.9 hectares was compulsorily acquired by the state between 2014 and 2016.
The pending court case; Machakos ELC Petition number 10 of 2018 – Julius Mutie and 2 others versus East African Portland Cement Company Ltd and 3 others is yet to be determined. The plaintiffs claim to be owners of the same land LR NO: 10424.
“Every record should be under the Ministry’s custody. That’s why we did request them to be part of this meeting so that we can seek clarity,” Gakuya said.
“We were looking at the holistic Portland land taking into consideration that we have about 8, 000 hectares and this portion is only half of that land. So, also making this clear, a process of regularization that has already commenced, this committee also wanted to know the position and generally whole scope of Portland land.”
Korir said as a Ministry, they hadn’t received any document from either EAPCC Limited or Kenya Railways Corporation effecting any transfer in respect of LR NO. 10424 (original NO. 1881/5) or its subsequent divisions.
“The Ministry hasn’t received any communication from both KRC and EAPCC Limited in respect of the sale of 900 acres to Kenya Railways Cooperation,” Korir told the MPs.
EAPCC Head of Finance Mohamed Osman together with the firm’s senior legal officer Roseline Ominde both who represented managing director Oliver Kirubai confirmed the PS’s sentiments stating that the process had been in progress.
“We can confirm that the facts as read for us by the PS are true, the transfer of 900 acres to Kenya Railways is still in progress,” Osman said.
“It is true that neither EAPCC nor Kenya Railways Corporation has submitted any transaction document to the Ministry. As we stand, the process is ongoing,” Ominde said.
“We can’t allow regularization without knowing who the real owner of the land is,” Gakuya said.